Creating respectful workplaces for nurses in regional acute care settings

In 2013, Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) developed the Respectful workplace policy in response to recognition that many employee related grievances were related to incivility or “workplace discourtesy” (HNELHD, 2016). It is recognised that incivility or ‘workplace discourtesy’ if allowed to continue can manifest into higher levels of bullying and harassment (HNELHD, 2016). The policy and the proceeding development of Respectful Workplace Workshops for HNELHD staff, has been focusing on reinforcing expected values based behaviours in the workplace (HNELHD, 2016). The respectful workplace workshops consisted of three modules all delivered face to face by one of two employees of the Respectful Workplace team whom have worked in the workforce devision of HNEHEALTH for at least 2 years. One member was located in the New England North West Region and the other located in the newcastle region. The workshops were delivered multiple times at 2 regional acute care hospitals over a period of 3 months to increase ability of nurse attendance. The following is an overview of the workshops; Module 1 – Introduction to respectful workplaces – Participants are challenged and encouraged to consider individual responsibilities and contributions to supporting a respectful workplace, including responding to unhelpful behaviour from others. Module 2 – Straight Talk TM- Participants will learn about and practice using a conversation structure which helps them to communicate clearly, directly and respectfully in a concise manner with concrete outcomes. Module 3 – Coaching for resolving conflict – Explores the role of the manager in supporting a respectful workplace, and supports managers in using the Assisted resolution pathway, and coaching for resolving conflict. The workshops utilise various methods of teaching styles including educational lectures, and group work involving role play in order to achieve the learning outcomes. All staff who met the inclusion criteria at the interventional sites were encouraged to attend Modules 1 and 2, and Module 3 was designed specifically for manager attendance only. Module 1 and 2 required staff to attend for 2 hours for each, and Module 3 also required NUMs to attend for a further 4 hours. This study design was non-randomised, and relied on staff volunteering for attendance at the workshops. Upon completion of the workshops at the intervention sites, the Respectful Workplace team sent through the total numbers only (no names) of participant Registered Nurses/Nurse Unit Manager/New Graduate from each ward at each intervention site.